Would letting Routledge go be a mistake?

Routledge in action for Newcastle.It is rumoured that Wayne Routledge is rejoining former club Queens Park Rangers on loan for the rest of the season. Is this a well thought out move from club?

Wayne Routledge is a player who attracts a lot of critisism from supporters, sometimes harshly in my opinion. A world-beater he is not, but he is certainly a lad who can be a danger with his pace, even more so in the second half against tired legs as he proved in the win at Wigan earlier this month. He played a part in getting us all three points, that’s for sure.

Some supporters though simply insist that he is not good enough or maybe consistent enough at Premier League level. Joey Barton has quite rightly made the wide right position his own despite his preference to play in the centre of midfield, but if he happened to get injured or suspended what options would we be left with? Not much at all in my opinion.

The clubs efforts to sign Birmingham City wide man Seb Larsson would suggest this is an area that Alan Pardew would like to strenghten, so why let one of our wide players go? There is a lack of good wide players in depth at Newcastle in my opinion.

I, and I am sure most of us, would hope that maybe Wayne Routledge is being loaned out because a new arrival is due in, but shouldn’t the club be looking at securing signings first? We all thought Seb Larsson was going to sign but personal terms could not be agreed. There is also matter of transfer fees and medicals to be negotiated. Signing players, as we know, is far from being straight-forward.

The squad lacks any real strength in depth and ideally a good squad would contain two decent players for every starting position. I feel that we are short of this on the flanks and at left-back. Dan Gosling returning to fitness helps to boost the squad, but he is more a central midfielder than a wide player. Hatem Ben Arfa is not due back for a while, even then we will be lucky to see him back to full fitness this season.

I would like to see players arrive before we let anybody leave. Letting Wayne Routledge go would be a bad move as things stand I feel. With the thin squad we have, can we afford to let someone go and then run the risk of not being able to get a replacement?

As things stand, its a bad move as he gives us pace down the right wing which we do lack. When games need changing the option of putting a fast winger on against tiring legs is a good one and now we don’t have that option.

I would retain him until we get a replacement . There’s times when he needs to come on to change the game even if it’s just to provide width and balance thus providing more space for the central midfield.
Hopefully he has someone lined up.

@Toonsy
Don’t care for the tiny links for “view” or “post” on the mobile site. My thumb is too big and it’s hard to hit the right one. Also you need to scroll back to the end of the article to select instead of the end of the posts.
Workys is more user friendly.

Trouble with Routledge imo is self confidence.
I’m sure the coaching staff are telling him what to do, but he just cant take it on board and learn. He seems to have hit a wall when it comes to prem football, because he has proved he can do it in fizzy pop lge.
Its easier to give up and move him out, because tbh prem players are meant to be at the top of their game, not in need of basic coaching skills. Its a shame, but I think he has a mental problem, having been dumped by what is it 4 ? prem clubs now.

Ice – I worry about Pards – it appeared he wanted to replace the pacey winger with a slow player like Larssen – that would have been a backwards step in a league that the best teams look for speed – you can’t defend against speed – Spurs have built the emergence on it.

Chris wouldn’t have made that mistake – that’s for sure (just for El T)

Jay another good read mate, but the poll is a no brainer lol.
I just cant see the point of letting him go unless we have cover. Either we are getting someone in or they are thinking along the lines of Joey staying there for now then when Benny is back he takes over from Jonas then Jonas moves out to the right, since he is right footed ?
But as it is it would be a sin as Routledge was a good player to come on late on and rip the other team apart with his pace, and i dont think he would have been on big money

STARDUST l agree on larssen 100% i mean zero pace no dribbling abilty poor heading abilty,not the best at tracking back,ah good at dead balls,although injured at the mo,we have this fine ablity at the club in r.taylor,please no thank you sir,

Jay Jay – agree with everything you say. And as Stardust has pointed out, the outcome of this will tell us a lot about AP’s abilities.

Right now, I’m concerned that AP is undoing some of CH’s best work. We need competition for Routledge, not a replacement. Unless we have two coming in (or some stroke of genius we’re not aware of, like finding Gosling is actually a natural right-winger) then this looks like a very bad move to me.

The argument is nothing to do with Routledge’s ability. It’s to do with the timing and practicalities of moving him out. It doesn’t matter how good or bad he is: he’s better than five foot six of fresh air, which is currently all we have as a substitute.